Chicken and vegetable stocks

Unfortunately, some stocks just don’t contain much of what’s pictured on the pack.

Continental Stock Pot Chicken has a measly 2.2% and Vegeta Real Chicken Stock is only 1% chicken. Massel’s “chicken style” products don’t have any chook (see our Table).

Nine stocks didn't list their chicken or vege content – Woolworths Chicken Stock's biggest ingredient is “reconstituted chicken stock”. Chicken bones and “chicken pre-mix” are included, but the pack doesn’t tell you the proportion.

The salt factor

We found huge variation in the amount of sodium in stocks. Fourteen of the 17 stock powders named salt as their main ingredient. It’s the sodium in salt that’s bad for your health.

Per cup, the biggest sodium hitters were Campbell’s Real Stock liquids and Continental Stock Pot Chicken.

Don’t take reduced salt options at face value either. For example, Continental Stock Pot Chicken has a “salt reduced” option. While it contains less salt than Continental’s standard offering, cup-for-cup it packs more sodium than most of the stocks we bought.

Make your own

You can whip up a tasty broth in a couple of hours, often from bits and bobs you already have in the kitchen. Trained chef and Consumer NZ staff member Jacinta Allen gives us the skinny on making your own vege stock.

“This is how I do it at my house, but the beauty of a stock is, if you’re making your own, almost anything can go in it,” she says.

Ingredients

• 4-5L of cold water
• 3-4 carrots (chopped)
• 3 onions (chopped)
• ¼ to ½ head of celery (chopped)
• 1 tbsp of peppercorns (don’t add salt)
• A handful of herbs
• 2-3 cups of chopped vegetables. These can range from what you find in the pantry to food scraps (for example: clean onion and carrot peels, celery leaves and mushroom stalks).

Method

Step 1: Tie the peppercorns and herbs (Jacinta uses parsley stalks, bay leaves and thyme as a base but she recommends experimenting to find flavours you like) in muslin – this makes it easy to remove from the stock when its finished cooking.

Step 2: Put all your ingredients in a large pot on a medium heat.

Step 3: When it starts simmering, turn down so it doesn’t boil. If it gets up to a rolling boil, you’ll get cloudy stock.

Step 4: After an hour, take it off the heat and leave to cool.

Step 5: Remove the herbs.

Step 6: Strain the stock and collect the liquid.

Step 7: Toss or compost the solids you’ve pulled out.

Step 8: Enjoy! Stock can be stored in the fridge for 4 to 5 days. Any longer and you'll need to freeze it (up to 6 months).

Making meat or fish stock

Adding the bones of beef, chicken or fish to your stock changes the balance and gives a different flavour. Use the same process as making vege stock, but adjust the cooking time. If it's chicken or red meat, simmer for 3 to 4 hours. Fish stock just needs 20 minutes' simmering. Make sure to skim off the scum and fat as you go. Jacinta recommends browning meat and fish bones by frying before adding them if you want a darker stock with a richer taste.

Tip: Keep a sealed container of vege scraps such as carrot peel, onion end and parsley stalks in the fridge. Add to it every time you cook and then make a stock from it at the end of the week.

Stocks compared